Kansas Author Phil E. Quinn

Join us in the Topeka Room (204) on Sunday, March 3, 2:00-3:00pm to hear Kansas Author Phil E. Quinn talk about his debut novel Release Point. Female athletes are an underserved literary market. Their participation in sports has increased dramatically over the past several decades in most countries while literary efforts to represent, document and highlight them in stories and novels has not.

Release Point is a dramatic coming of age story of two young rivals, Charlene Dooley and Raven Blackhawk; one a pitcher and the other a power hitting catcher; both rising stars in their sport. The combative girls collide during a hotly contested game as pre-teens leaving Raven injured and unable to compete for several years. Despite her impairment, Raven continues working in the barn at home and develops into a premier pitcher. She decides to make a comeback her junior year of high school as Charlene starts her senior year. Fearful of not passing her sports physical, the entire student body rallies behind Raven and attends her eligibility hearing with hilarious results. But this isn’t their only concern. Disillusioned after consecutive losing seasons, not enough girls want to play softball at Raven’s school, forcing the administration to consider canceling the season. To the delight of fans, the varsity cheerleaders come to the rescue filling the vacant roster spots. As high school upperclassmen, both Raven and Charlene lead their teams to an undefeated regular season setting up a winner-take-all showdown in the state championship game that attracts ESPN and a national audience. As the game concludes, the girls resolve their life-ling conflict – and the game – in a shocking way that leaves the reader amazed and inspired. Release Point is a must read with multi-cultural appeal for any female athlete or parent of a girl seeking greatness in an athletic venue. In a world dominated by male athletes, it provides a female sports hero worthy of applause and emulation.

Phil Quinn moved to Kansas from Nashville, TN when his son retired from the NFL and decided to remain in Kansas City. He wanted to be near four grandchildren. In 2012, he was the varsity softball coach at Wamego High School. This is his first novel but he has also authored Cry Out! an autobiography; and non-fiction books about dealing with and overcoming child abuse including: Spare the Rod: Breaking the Cycle of Child Abuse and From Victim to Victory.

Books available for sale & signing after the talk. For more information please call the Topeka Room at 785-580-4510.

*Book and Biographical information supplied by the author.

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Charity is a Public Service Specialist working with genealogy and local history reference in the Topeka Room/Genealogy. Her start at TSCPL came as a genealogy researcher soon after the Baker Genealogy Center opened in November 2007. In early 2009, she became a Genealogy volunteer and in May 2010 she came to work at TSCPL. She earned her Master of Library Science degree from Emporia State University in December 2011. One of her favorite times of year is when the Topeka Room is decked out for the holidays.